Bourne's main job is host of a syndicated outdoor radio show, however he is probably best known as one of the personalities on Ducks Unlimited Television (DU TV), a show viewed by hundreds of thousands every week on the VERSUS network. When he's not chasing ducks however, he comes home to his family farm in Clarksville.

"My grandfather returned from the Civil War and established the farm," Bourne said. "My son is the fifth generation to live in the same house."

He began working with DU TV about six years ago and says it has been his most rewarding assignment in his 30-year outdoor writing career.

"There is nothing that trips my trigger as much as getting in a blind and working mallards," he said. "I'm a West Tennessee boy and that's what I grew up with and that's what I still love the most."

One of Bourne's partners on DU TV is Mike Checkett, a former biologist for the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission. Now he is the Media Relations Biologist for DU. Checkett and Bourne have worked to redirect DU TV in recent years.

"We got a lot of requests from hunters who said, 'Go somewhere I can go," said Checkett. "Wade and I got to talking about it and now every year we try to do several freelance hunts."

Many hunters are frustrated when they see outdoor shows filmed on exclusive, private clubs that they will never be allowed to visit. Checkett and Bourne have made a concerted effort to film waterfowling shows on public land.

"We want to do it like our viewers do it," said Bourne. "Building stick blinds, laying in the mud and hiding in the weeds. We want them to be able to identify with what we do. And even go there if they want."

Bourne says with some "sweat equity," there are great opportunities for waterfowlers everywhere.

"A couple of my favorite places to hunt are Kansas and Oklahoma," he said. "There are public reservoirs there that in late November and early December are going to be absolutely covered with ducks and there won't be any hunters on them."

He admits that occasionally the DU TV crew will "crash & burn."

"Absolutely, it happens," he said. "But not as often as you'd think. We spend three days hunting on every location. On most of our shows there may be six to a dozen kill sequences. If you can't get that in three days time, it's really bad. But maybe once a year we'll do a shoot that doesn't make air."

Bourne says one show they have planned this year is at Grand Pass Wildlife Management Area in Missouri.

"We're going to stand in what they call 'the Poor Man's Line," he said. "You go and you stand in line and you hope to get drawn for a blind. We want to be there rubbing shoulders with regular hunters that are trying to get a blind and hunt on a public area."

Bourne says there is only one downside to traveling the country hunting.

"The only negative, and I do mean the only negative, is being on the road shooting the show keeps me from getting to hunt 'my' spots," he said. "My times, in my blind, over my decoys is very precious now."

He knows however, there won't be a lot of sympathy for him in the world of waterfowlers.

Last week Chattanooga waterfowlers gathered for the annual area Ducks Unlimited Banquet. Organizers said the fundraiser netted more than $31,000 that will be contributed to wetland conservation efforts. Dozens of similar banquets will be held across Tennessee this fall and winter. That is one reason Bourne knows he is working for the right group.

"I'm a contract DU employee so I can still have an objective opinion," he said. "But since I've gone to work for them my opinion of the efforts of DU has gone sky-high. Every person who works for DU is dedicated to the resource. They're not dedicated to making a living, they're dedicated to the ducks… and they just happen to make a living while they're doing it."

Bourne says however that Ducks Unlimited can't save the waterfowl resources alone. He says it will take a concerted effort between Mother Nature, the federal government, the Canadian government, and conservation resources.

"But does Ducks Unlimited make a difference," he asked rhetorically. "Yes they do. I say that with all sincerity and honesty of heart. Not because I'm trying to sell memberships to DU but because they do a great job and their heart is in the right place."

More about DU TV here